Demoiselle Alisande la
Corteloise, other wise known as Sandy, is the incomprehendable
leading lady of A
Connecticut Yankee in Sir Authur's
Court. Sandy first
comes into the story as a princess, telling a tall tale of how she
and fourty-four other ladies, most of them princesses, were being
held prisoners in a castle by three four armed, one-eyed brothers.
King Authur assigns Hank, the protagonist, to the task of saving the
group of fourty-four ladies but when Hank tries to probe her for
information as to the location of the castle, he comes across a
problem, a communication problem that is. He cannot understand a
single thing she says. In frustration, Hank loses patience and
questions, "Can't you understand that the difference between your-
why do you look so innocent and idiotic?"(90). Hank continues to
describe her and her manner of speech -"She was quite a biddable
creature and good hearted, but she had the flow of talk that was
steady as a mill, and made your head sore like the drays and wagons
of the city"(103).

Sandy demonstrates a blissful
ignorance at times, frequently recalling stories of dragons and
knights as if they were true. When Hank and Sandy finally arrive at
the four-armed brother's castle, the brothers are, of course, absent
and the princesses turn out to be just pigs. - pigs
she adored. In addition,
she is a pious creature. When Hank asks how will they know where to
go to get to the castle, she replies, "ye wit well it were God's work
to do that, being not within man's capacity"(92). Attempting to
understand Sandy and her apparent naivete, Hank concludes - "My Land,
the power of training! of influence! of education! It can bring a
body up to believe anything. I had to put myself in Sandy's place to
realize she wasn't an idiot"(191).

Another aspect Sandy displays is a
sense of her own elevated position within society - she was a
princess. When they were traveling through the country towards the
four-armed brother's castle, she refused to eat with the commoners
even though they were hungry - "My Lady put up her scornful lip and
withdrew to one side; she said in their hearing that she would soon
think of eating with the other cattle"(109). Hank makes a similar
observation when he describes the room they had in Morgan
le Fay's castle-"of course
the place was all right and agreeable enough for Sandy, for she had
been used to the high life all her days"(174).

The next role Sandy occuppies in
the novel is as a moral advisor to Hank for when Hank's conscious
goes unchecked, he shows a kind of moral ambiguosness. For instance,
when they first get to Morgan le Fay's castle, Hank starts
participating in the evil whims of Morgan le Fay and gives orders to
hang the band. We first begin to see Sandy's moral influence during
the scene when a grandmother enters the castle and curses le Fay for
killing her "innocent grandchild." In response to the affrontal, le
Fay sentences her to be executed. Hank becomes appalled at the sight
but feels helpless in the situation - "It was a shame; it was a cruel
thing to see. What could be done? Sandy gave me a look: I knew she
had another inspiration. I said- 'Do what you choose'"(152). At this
point, Sandy comes to the rescue and saves the grandmother by using
Hank's reputation as a powerful magician and threatening to blow up
the castle. After Sandy endows Hank with the confidence to use his
reputation, Hank gets morally inspired and starts saving other people
from Morgan le Fay's wrath; like the husband on the stretch
machine and the rest of
prisoners. Finally, Sandy reinforces Hank with a moral code by
telling him tales of knights, chivalry, honor, etc.(196).

Although Hank starts off with the
ability to survive, as seen in the first eclipse scene, Sandy comes
to his rescue several times. The first of which occurrs when Sandy
and Hank run into a suspicious group of knights on horses. Hank's
first instinct is to flee the situation but Sandy non-chalantly walks
over to them and tells them who Hank is, for she knows the name and
reputation will suffice in deterring them. Hank sums up her
usefulness - "How much better she managed that thing than I should
have done it myself! She was a daisy"(123). She uses the same tactic
when they first arrive at Morgan le Fay's castle - "I was right; but
she had stood by me most helpfully in the castle, and mightily
supported me and reinforced me with gigantic foolishnesses which were
worth more for the occasion than wisdoms double their size"(175). In
conclusion, Hank credits much of his success and even survival to
Sandy.

Hank best describes the nature of
his relationship with Sandy:

"Ah, Sandy, what a right heart she had, how
simple, and genuine, and good she was! She was a flawless wife and
mother; .......I was a New Englander, and in my opinion this sort of
partnership would comprimise her, sooner or later. She couldn't see
how, but I cut the argument short and we had a wedding.

Now I didn't know I was drawing a prize, yet
that was what I did draw. Within the twelvemonth I became her
worshiper; and ours was the dearest and perfectest comradship that
ever was. People talk about beautiful friendships between two persons
of the same sex. What is the best of that sort, as compared with the
friendship of man and wife, where the best impulses and highest
ideals of both are the same? There is no place for comparison between
the two friendships; the one is earthly, the other
divine."(406)

In this passage, Hank begins by
exclaiming what a good person she was and even expresses some doubt
about his general worthiness of her. He worries about comprimising
her values and integretity for they were both from different places;
geographical as well as class. In the second paragraph, Hank
describes how ideal his marriage was for they became the best of
friends and had the "perfectest comradship."

Although the most obvious
connections can be made to Olivia, aspects of the all of the
following real life figures can be see in Sandy: